Buddhist baby names: Tibetan, Pali, Thai and Japanese names with Buddhist meanings

Updated October 2026 · Modern Baby Names

Buddhist names travel well. A Tibetan child may be called Tenzin or Pema by a lama, a Thai girl may carry a formal Pali name like Apinya alongside a one-syllable nickname, a Sri Lankan boy may be named Upali after a disciple of the Buddha, and a Zen priest in Kyoto may answer to a dharma name quite different from the one on his birth certificate. This guide walks through the main Buddhist naming traditions, what the names actually mean, and how families in each culture choose them.

What makes a name "Buddhist"?

Buddhism has no single sacred language for names. Instead, each Buddhist culture has drawn on the vocabulary of its scriptures and its own language. Theravada countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia draw heavily on Pali, the language of their canon. Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhists translate Sanskrit Buddhist terms into Tibetan, so the Sanskrit padma, "lotus", becomes Pema. East Asian Buddhists use Chinese characters, read in Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese, so the Sanskrit dhyana, "meditation", became Chinese chan and Japanese Zen.

In practice a Buddhist name usually falls into one of four groups:

• Names of virtues and teachings: Metta (loving-kindness), Karuna (compassion), Mudita (sympathetic joy), Sila (virtue), Prajna (wisdom), Sonam (merit).
• Names of the Buddha and his circle: Siddhartha, Gautam, Rahula, Yashodhara, Ananda, Upali, Channa.
• Symbols: the lotus (Padma, Pema, Ren), the vajra or thunderbolt (Vajra, Dorje), jewels (Norbu, Rinchen, Ratana).
• Auspicious words that are not doctrinal but sit comfortably in a Buddhist culture: Tashi (good fortune), Tsering (long life), Niran (everlasting).

Many of these words are shared with Hinduism, because both traditions grew up in India using Sanskrit. Ananda, Abhay and Maya are equally at home in Hindu families. If you want the wider Sanskrit picture, see our Sanskrit baby names and Hindu baby names; the full list for this tradition is on our Buddhist baby names page.

Tibetan names: Tenzin, Dolma, Pema, Sonam and the lama's blessing

In Tibet, Bhutan, Ladakh, Sikkim and among Sherpas, it has long been the custom to ask a lama to name a baby. Parents may visit a teacher at the monastery, or a lama may be invited to the house, and the name chosen often carries a hope for the child's spiritual life. Because so many names come from the same small pool of Buddhist words, you will meet many people called Tenzin, Tashi, Sonam or Dolma.

A few patterns help make sense of them:

• Two-part names are normal. Traditionally Tibetans did not use family surnames; a person is known by two given names, as in Tenzin Gyatso (the 14th Dalai Lama), Sonam Wangchuk or Tsering Dolma. Either part can be used on its own in daily life. In exile communities and on Western paperwork the second name often ends up treated as a surname.
• Tenzin and the Dalai Lama. Tenzin, "holder of the teachings", is part of the Dalai Lama's own name, and many Tibetans who were named by him received Tenzin as the first element. That is one reason it is so common in the diaspora.
• Most names are unisex. Pema, Sonam, Tenzin, Tsering, Dechen, Norbu and Yeshe are given to boys and girls alike. Some endings do mark gender: -mo is feminine, as in Lhamo (goddess), Wangmo (powerful woman), Zangmo and Sangmu, while -po appears in masculine names such as Zangpo.
• Spellings vary. Tibetan spelling and pronunciation differ a great deal, so the same name is romanised in several ways: Dorje and Dorji (Dorji is the usual Bhutanese spelling), Palden and Pelden, Yeshe and Yeshi, Sangye and Sangay, Rigzen and Rinzin.

Some of the best-loved meanings: Dolma is the Tibetan name of Tara, the female bodhisattva who rescues beings from fear, and Dolkar is White Tara. Jampa means loving-kindness and is linked to Maitreya, the future Buddha. Lobsang means "noble-minded". Thubten means "the Buddha's teaching" and is especially common among monks and nuns. Jigme means fearless, Gyatso means ocean (the third Dalai Lama was Sonam Gyatso), and Khandro means "sky-goer", the Tibetan word for a dakini.

Weekday names

Alongside lama-given names, Tibetans and especially Sherpas often name a child after the day of the week on which they were born. Each day is named after a heavenly body:

• Sunday: Nyima (the sun)
• Monday: Dawa (the moon)
• Tuesday: Migmar (Mars); the Sherpa form is Mingma
• Wednesday: Lhakpa (Mercury)
• Thursday: Phurba (Jupiter)
• Friday: Pasang (Venus)
• Saturday: Pemba (Saturn)

These names are why so many famous Everest climbers share first names. A child might be Pemba Lhamu or Dawa Tsering, combining the weekday with a Buddhist name.

Pali and Sanskrit words used as names

Many Buddhist names are simply key words of the teaching. Because the Pali Canon and the Sanskrit Mahayana texts used closely related languages, the same name often has two forms. Knowing the pairs helps you spot them:

• Dhamma (Pali) and dharma (Sanskrit): Dhammika is the Pali-based Sri Lankan name, Dharma the Sanskrit one.
• Metta and maitri, loving-kindness: Metta, Maitri.
• Panna and prajna, wisdom: Panna, Prajna, with the popular Indian spelling Pragya.
• Asoka and Ashoka, "without sorrow", the emperor who spread Buddhism: Asoka, Ashoka, Ashok.
• Arahant and arhat, the "worthy one" who has reached awakening: Arhat, and the fashionable Indian name Arhan.
• Ariya and arya, "noble", as in the Noble Eightfold Path: Ariya, Arya.

Three of the four "immeasurables" of Buddhist ethics make lovely names: Metta, Karuna and Mudita (the fourth, upekkha or equanimity, is rarely used for children). Bodhi, "awakening", is the name of the tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment and has become popular in Australia, the US and the UK. Ahimsa (non-violence), Samadhi (meditative absorption), Dhyan and Dhyana (meditation), Nirvan and Nirvana (liberation) are all real choices, though the last is rare as a given name and worth saying aloud before you commit.

Names from the Buddha's own life are a quieter way to honour him. Siddhartha, "one who has accomplished his aim", was his birth name; Siddharth is the everyday Indian form. Gautam recalls his clan, Gotama. Yashodhara was his wife and Rahula his son; Rahul is now one of India's best-known boys' names. Epithets of the Buddha such as Tathagat ("thus gone") and Sugata ("well-gone") are used in Bengal and among Ambedkarite Buddhists in India. Amitabh, "boundless light", echoes Amitabha Buddha, and Visakha and Amrapali recall famous women in the early Buddhist texts.

Thai names from Pali and Sanskrit

Thai formal names are overwhelmingly built from Pali and Sanskrit, the languages that came to Thailand with Theravada Buddhism and royal culture. Parents often choose a name for its auspicious meaning, sometimes with the help of a monk or an astrologer, and some families consult the day of the week the baby was born when choosing the sounds.

A few things are worth knowing:

• Everyone has a nickname. Thai people almost always use a short nickname in daily life, and the long formal name may be reserved for documents and school. A girl formally named Wanida might be called by a one-syllable nickname by everyone she knows.
• Final vowels drop. Thai pronunciation tends to clip the final vowel of Pali words, so ananda becomes Anan (Thai Buddhists call the Buddha's attendant Phra Anon or Anan), and jaya, "victory", becomes Chai.
• Romanisation is inconsistent. The Thai name usually written Rattana appears as Ratana; Arun, "dawn" (as in Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn), is often spelled Aroon; Achara is also written Atchara.
• Compounds are common. Elements such as chai combine into names like Somchai and Chaiwat, and Narong into Narongsak.

Some Thai names carry a clear Buddhist sense: Apinya comes from abhinna, the higher knowledge developed in meditation, and Ratana recalls the Three Jewels, the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. Others are simply graceful words: Niran (everlasting), Anurak (to protect), Achara (celestial maiden; wondrous).

Sri Lankan names

Sinhalese Buddhist families in Sri Lanka also draw widely on Pali. A strong tradition is to name children after figures from the Buddha's life and from the island's own Buddhist history. Upali, the barber who became the great master of monastic discipline, Channa, the prince's charioteer, and Ananda, the faithful attendant, are all familiar Sri Lankan names. Asoka honours the emperor whose son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitta, according to tradition, brought Buddhism and a sapling of the Bodhi tree to the island.

Other names common among Sinhala Buddhists include Dhammika ("follower of the Dhamma"), Asanga ("unattached"), Sumana and Samadhi for girls, and Abhaya, a historic royal name of the Anuradhapura kings. Older-generation favourites such as Anuradha, Vimala, Sujata and Sumangala are shared with South India.

Monks receive a new Pali name at ordination, which is why Sri Lankan and Thai monks often have names such as Amaro ("deathless") that are rare as birth names.

Japanese names: secular names versus dharma names

Japan is where the difference between an everyday name and a Buddhist name is sharpest. Most Japanese people have an ordinary given name chosen by their parents, written in kanji that the parents pick for meaning, sound and stroke count. Separately, Buddhism gives dharma names, Buddhist names that are not normally given to babies:

• Ordination names. A monk or priest receives a new name on entering the Buddhist path. Hakuin, Ryokan, Muso, Ekai and Shunryu are all names of this kind, borne by Zen teachers: Hakuin Ekaku, the Rinzai reformer; Ryōkan, the hermit-poet; Musō Soseki, the garden designer; Kawaguchi Ekai, who travelled to Tibet; and Shunryu Suzuki, founder of the San Francisco Zen Center. Kanzan and Unmon are Japanese readings of the Chinese masters Hanshan and Yunmen.
• Posthumous names. In much of Japanese Buddhism a layperson is given a Buddhist name after death for the funeral and memorial tablet, called kaimyō in most schools and hōmyō in Jōdo Shinshū. Because these are associated with death, giving one to a baby would be very unusual in Japan.

So if you love the sound of Hakuin or Ryokan, know that in Japan these read as famous monks' names rather than as ordinary boys' names (and the everyday word ryokan, a traditional inn, is written with different characters). Kenshin sits in between: it was the Buddhist name Uesugi Kenshin took on entering vows, but is now an ordinary given name.

For a Japanese name with a gentle Buddhist echo, parents usually choose a secular name and the kanji that carry the meaning. Ren written 蓮, "lotus", has been one of Japan's leading boys' names in recent decades. Shin can be written 信, "faith". Kensho is usually written with non-religious kanji, but the same sounds written 見性 are the Zen term for seeing one's true nature. Jin written 仁 means benevolence. Outside Japan, Zen itself has become a modern choice for its calm feel.

Vietnamese, Mongolian and Indian Buddhist names

Vietnamese Buddhists receive a pháp danh (dharma name) when taking refuge, alongside their everyday name. Everyday Vietnamese names are Sino-Vietnamese and many carry quietly Buddhist values: Thien can mean heaven, goodness or Zen, Tri means wisdom, Duc virtue, Hien gentle and kind, and Phuc blessing. Minh, Thanh, Linh, Ngoc and Bao are common too. Mongolia, where Tibetan Buddhism is historic, has names like Zaya, "fate", shared with Zaya Pandita, the seventeenth-century Oirat Buddhist scholar who translated many Buddhist texts into Mongolian.

In India, Buddhist families, including the Ambedkarite community and Bengali Buddhists, often choose Sanskrit names with Buddhist resonance, some of them shared with Hindu Bengali and Marathi neighbours: Buddhadeb, Dipankar (after Dipankara, a Buddha of the past), Sugata, Paromita ("perfection", as in the paramitas), Sumedh, Milind (recalling King Milinda of the famous dialogue with the monk Nagasena) and Bhavana ("meditation, cultivation").

Choosing a Buddhist name: practical tips

• Ask a teacher. If your family belongs to a Tibetan or Himalayan community, asking a lama is still the traditional route, and many teachers in the West will do this too. In Thailand and Sri Lanka a temple monk may help.
• Check the gender convention. Most Tibetan names are unisex, but Pali and Sanskrit names usually change ending: Abhay for a boy, Abhaya for a girl; Anand for a boy, Amita for a girl.
• Pick one spelling and stick to it. Dorje or Dorji, Palden or Pelden, Ratana or Rattana: all are correct, but consistency matters on documents.
• In Japanese, the kanji is the meaning. Ren or Shin with no characters attached has no fixed meaning; choose the characters first.
• Consider honour names carefully. Names of living teachers or of the Buddha himself are widely used, but some families prefer names of virtues or symbols, like Pema or Metta, rather than names of revered figures.

For more ideas, browse boy names and girl names by letter.

Frequently asked questions

What does Tenzin mean, and is it for boys or girls?

Tenzin means "holder of the teachings", from Tibetan words for the Buddha's doctrine and "to hold". It is used for both boys and girls, and is the first part of the 14th Dalai Lama's name, Tenzin Gyatso.

What are Buddhist names for girls?

Popular choices include Dolma (Tara), Pema (lotus), Lhamo (goddess), Metta (loving-kindness), Karuna (compassion), Prajna (wisdom), Tara and Yashodhara, the Buddha's wife.

What are Buddhist names for boys?

Siddhartha, Bodhi, Ananda, Dorje, Lobsang, Jigme, Upali and Zen are all well-loved, as are unisex Tibetan names like Sonam and Tashi.

Can I give my baby a Japanese dharma name?

You can, but in Japan dharma names are given to monks at ordination or to laypeople after death, so a name like Hakuin would read as a famous monk's name rather than an everyday one. Families who want a Buddhist feel usually choose a secular name such as Ren with meaningful kanji.

Why do so many Sherpas share the same first names?

Many Sherpa and Tibetan children are named after the day they were born, so names such as Pemba (Saturday), Pasang (Friday), Lhakpa (Wednesday) and Mingma (Tuesday) are extremely common.

What is the difference between Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist names?

They are closely related languages: Pali is used in Theravada countries like Sri Lanka and Thailand, Sanskrit in Mahayana texts and India. Many names come in pairs, such as Metta and Maitri, or Asoka and Ashoka.